Instead of deciding what advisors and clients need, we listened to "wants", improving overall communication.

Albridge Wealth Reporting™ (AWR) is one of the leading data consolidation and performance reporting systems for financial institutions. AWR helps advisors communicate with clients regarding consolidated assets, performance and transactions. As demands on advisors’ time multiply and additional emphasis is placed on improving the overall advisor/client experience, tools such as AWR become a vital solution for advisor success—fostering communication and investor education. The product was launched in 2000, and the look and feel—along with overall usability—have not been updated since launch. The goal for the project was to improve the overall user experience for the target audience: financial advisors (while simultaneously improving the investor experience and reinforcing the advisor/client relationship). The focus of Phase I was specifically to improve the advisor’s experience in reviewing and communicating with clients. A series of steps included field studies, project scoping, vision and story boarding, considerations and constraints, and full team collaboration involving business partners and management of organizational change. One of the greatest challenges throughout this process was defining what the user experience process could be, as prior software design exercises had never included this component. The result of a series of usability studies and feedback sessions has demonstrated that the redesign has greatly improved the user experience for advisors.

This project is notable because of the innovative user experience that responds to user demand for anywhere, anytime, any-device access to improve the client experience. Advisors can leverage AWR for presentations on a larger screen or in one-on-one meetings with a client via tablet. The experience is improved and consistent across devices. Easy navigation means that the most important information an advisor needs can be accessed via one click from the home screen. Intuitive next-steps allow for assistants to run PDF reports easily for review and advisor use. Finally, interactive screens improve client meetings as an advisor can start at a high level and easily click through to supporting detail. We feel strongly that the new AWR user experience is exceptional. The project and process has employed various tools from User Experience Tool Box to ensure the final product meets users’ needs. The project has changed the user’s experience from running PDF reports to an interactive experience, vastly impacting the client/advisor experience. This is the first project in the company that successfully integrates the UX process with the Product Development process.